This application is based on and incorporates herein by reference Japanese Patent Application No. 2005-130724 filed on Apr. 28, 2005.
The present invention relates to a wireless communicating apparatus that transmits and receives wireless signals and a production method for the wireless communicating apparatus.
A hand-held key used in Smart Key System (trademark) is a vehicular wireless communicating apparatus that transmits and receives wireless signals. This apparatus is typically available as a thin product such as a card type to reduce the size or enhance portability.
A card-type wireless communicating apparatus described in Patent Document 1 has a structure where circuit components such as an IC chip or antenna are mounted on a circuit board and the surface of the circuit components and this circuit board is directly covered by a resin-sealing material.
In this case, after the circuit and the circuit components are sealed by the resin, a property such as a signal-transmitting or signal-receiving property of the antenna sometimes varies to affect communication property of the wireless communicating apparatus. However, it is difficult to adjust the varied properties of the circuit components after the circuit components are sealed, which poses a problem.
Patent Document 1: JP-2005-179942 A (US2005136852 A1)
It is an object of the present invention to provide a wireless communicating apparatus and a production method thereof to solve the above problem. With respect to the wireless communication apparatus, a property of its component can be inspected or adjusted even after the wireless communicating apparatus has been produced through resin-sealing.
To achieve the above object, a wireless communicating apparatus is provided with the following: a circuit board is included; a circuit component is attached to the circuit board; a terminal is provided to the circuit board for electrically linking the circuit component with an external apparatus for the circuit component and the external apparatus to communicate a signal; and a casing made of a resin-sealing material is included for directly covering a surface of the circuit component and a surface of the circuit board to which the circuit component is attached. Here, the casing includes a through-hole, through which the terminal is exposed to an outside.
Under the above structure, even after the circuit component and circuit board are sealed with resin, the though-hole allows the circuit component to be electrically linked with the external apparatus via the terminal. The circuit component is thus able to be adjusted after resin-sealing.
Furthermore, a production method of a wireless communicating apparatus is provided with the following steps: attaching a circuit component to a circuit board; providing a terminal to the circuit board for electrically linking the circuit component with an external apparatus for the circuit component and the external apparatus to communicate a signal; forming a casing using a resin-sealing material for directly covering a surface of the circuit component and a surface of the circuit board to which the circuit component is attached, wherein the casing is to include a through-hole through which the terminal is exposed to an outside; and inspecting the circuit component for adjustment as needed by electrically linking the terminal with the external apparatus so that the circuit component and the external apparatus communicate a signal after the step of forming the casing.
Under the above structure, after the circuit component and circuit board are sealed with resin, the circuit component can be electrically accessible by using the terminal and the though-hole. A varied property of the circuit component can be thus adjusted after resin-sealing.
The above and other objects, features, and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description made with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings:
A wireless communicating apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be explained with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5 using an example of a hand-held key used for Smart Key System (trademark).
As shown in
The main body 10 has a battery container 15 for containing the battery 30, terminals 57a, 57b for supplying power of the battery 30 to the main body 10, and an ornament member 20. When the battery 30 is inserted into the battery container 15, the terminals 57a, 57b contact a positive side (front surface) and a negative side (rear surface) of the battery 30, respectively. The battery 30 is a typical disk-type button battery.
The ornament member 20 is a part of a design of the apparatus 1 and indicates a use to a user. For instance, when the apparatus 1 is used for a vehicle, the ornament member 20 has a brand mark of an automobile manufacturer or an automobile type. The user can distinguish the apparatus 1 from other cards having similar shapes such as a credit card, a bank card, etc.
The cover plate 40 protects the battery 30 contained in the battery container 15 or helps prevent the battery 30 from dropping off the battery container 15. The cover plate 40 is made of metal or resin to have a rectangular front surface and a U-shaped sectional view. When the cover plate 40 is attached to the main body 10 to hide the battery 30 and battery container 15, an edge line of the cover plate 40 and an edge line of the main body 10 forms one edge line or one side of the apparatus 1; thus, the apparatus 1 has an approximately rectangular planar card shape.
As shown in
The circuit board 50 is a known printed-circuit board or flexible printed-circuit board or film. The circuit component group 51 is mounted on or attached to a surface of the circuit board 50. The circuit component group 51 is used to receive an ID request signal for requesting an ID code from a vehicle and to transmit a corresponding response signal to the vehicle.
The circuit component group 51 includes a transmission antenna 53, a reception antenna 54a, 54b, an IC package 52, and an electronic component 55. The circuit component group 51 is mounted on one (front) surface of the circuit board 50 in this embodiment, but it can be mounted on both (front and rear) surfaces. The antennas 53, 54a, 54b are formed of antenna coils wound around bobbins in this embodiment, but can be any other types to meet requirements in use of the apparatus 1.
The IC package 52 and the electronic component 55 control transmission of an ID code to the vehicle via the transmission antenna 53 based on the ID request signal received via the reception antenna 54a, 54b from the vehicle. The IC package 52 thus controls signal transmission and reception; furthermore, the IC package 52 stores the ID code and controls properties of the antennas 53, 54a, 54b such as output or frequency of radio waves.
The battery-use terminals 57a, 57b are formed of conductive material to be parallel with each other and connected with the circuit board 50 as shown in
The external-use terminals 58a to 58d are provided in an approximately central portion of the surface of the circuit board 50 to be electrically linked with the IC package 52 via wiring lines formed on the circuit board 50. When an external apparatus (e.g., a computer) is linked with the terminals 58a to 58d, data stored in the IC package 52 can be updated, newly written, or read out, which will be explained later.
The casing 11 is made of resin-sealing material to directly cover the circuit board 50 and the circuit component group 51. Specifically, the casing 11 is formed by an insert molding process where the circuit board 50 and the circuit component group 51 mounted on the circuit board 50 are sealed with the resin-sealing material. The resin-sealing material can be thermoset resin. Furthermore, the casing 11 is formed to expose the battery-use terminals 57a, 57b and external-use terminals 58a to 58d to an outside.
A structure of the casing 11 will be further explained below with respect to an area close to the external-use terminals 58a to 58d using
A barrier member 14 is formed between the through-holes 13a to 13d to prevent a short-circuit between the terminals 58a to 58d if water enters any one of the through-holes 13a to 13d to reach a corresponding terminal 58a to 58d.
As shown in
Production Method
Next, a production method for the wireless communicating apparatus 1 will be explained with reference to
Specifically, the protruding portion 61 has movable pins 62 to form the through-holes 13a to 13d and individually move in the vertical direction in
In the insert molding process, a thermoset resin of the resin-sealing material is pressure fed via a gate 81 into a cavity 80 formed between the upper and lower metal molds 60, 70 to directly contact and apply heat and pressure to the circuit component group 51. This may cause, in particular, antennas 53, 54a, 54b to vary their properties after the insert molding process.
In this embodiment, the casing 11 includes the concave portion 12 and through-holes 13a to 13d to expose the external-use terminals 58a to 58d, which are to be linked with the IC package 52 for adjusting the above varied properties after the insert molding process. As shown in
Specifically, after the casing 11 is formed, a connector 91 connected with the computer 90 is inserted into the concave portion 12 and through-holes 13a to 13d; then, the computer 90 is operated to rewrite data in the IC package 52 to adjust the above properties. This allows inspection or adjustment of properties of the already sealed circuit component group 51 of the wireless communicating apparatus 1 that has been formed with the resin-sealing through the insert molding process.
Furthermore, since the computer 90 can be electrically linked with the IC package 52, an ID code previously stored in the IC package 52 can be inspected or an ID code can be newly written after the insert molding process. Furthermore, the computer 90 can read out data in the IC package 52, so that a failure diagnosis for the wireless communicating apparatus 1 can be realized.
The ornament member 20 is thereafter inserted and fastened to the concave portion 12, e.g., using an adhesive. This helps prevent removal of the ornament member 20 after adjustment or shipment of the apparatus 1. Furthermore, this helps prevent unconsidered change of states or conditions of the circuit component group 51 by connecting the terminals 58a to 58d with the computer 90.
In this embodiment, in a top view, the peripheral border line of the oval brim of the ornament member 20 accords with the sidewall 22 of the ornament member 20 or an internal wall of the concave portion 12 of the casing 11. This causes the user not to distinguish between a designed line and a physical boundary, helping prevent deterioration of the design of the wireless communicating apparatus 1.
Furthermore, if the ornament is provided to both a surface of the casing 11 and the ornament member 20, the boundary between the concave portion 12 of the casing 11 and the sidewall 22 of the ornament member 20 can be included in a design, which also helps prevent deterioration of the design of the wireless communicating apparatus 1.
Wireless communicating apparatuses 1 according to a second embodiment and a third embodiment will be explained with reference to
As shown in
In contrast, as shown in
It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes may be made in the above-described embodiments of the present invention. However, the scope of the present invention should be determined by the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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2005-130724 | Apr 2005 | JP | national |